The 25 Best Free VST / AU Plugins for PC and Mac in 2013 – Part 1

Please note: There is an updated version of this post. Some of the plugins are different so you may still want to browse this older post as well.
You can find the newer post here:The Best Free VST / AU Plugins 2015

There are a lot of great free plugins out there. However, I’ve always been put off by how difficult it is to spot the good ones from the masses of mediocrity.

So I decided to do something about it. For the past year I’ve been on a mission. I’ve been scouting the internet, lurking on forums, talking to people… And downloading tons of free plug-ins.

Most importantly I’ve been test driving everything on real projects to see how the plugins perform. It’s been a ton of work and I’m not easy to please… But starting today I’m happy to present you the results:

My view on the absolute best of the best of free VST/AU plugins out there at the moment.
I am very glad I took on this project. Along the way I’ve discovered a number of brilliant tools that have since become a part of my workflow. I’m sure the same will happen to you if you give these a shot.

Big respects to all the developers involved for handing out these great tools for free.

Many thanks to all the people who tipped me off with plugins! I would have missed a lot of good ones if there wasn’t for your feedback.

A few notes before we begin

Please note I’ve only decided to accept plugins that are available for both PC and Mac. There are a lot of great PC/Mac only plugins out there, and I know many small developers simply can’t afford to create versions for different platforms. My apologies – I wanted to make sure this post works for everybody. If you think I am missing some essential PC/Mac specific plugins, let me know. I could do PC/Mac specific posts later.

All of these plugins are free, but some may require for you to register on the developers website before you can download. I can safely assure that in these cases it will be worth the trouble.

I’ve put the plugins in an ordered list based on the value they deliver me. Ordering many such different kinds of plugins is obviously difficult – please make your own judgements. They’re all great in any case.

All plugins are available in the most common VST and AU formats for Windows and Mac. In addition some are available in other formats such (like RTAS and AAX). Majority of the plugins are fully 64 bit compatible, too.

Right… Let’s roll!

25. Audio Damage Rough Rider

If you are in need of a traditional compressor that has the ability to make things pump but can also do a lot more, you should try this one out. Rough Rider can be tweaked for really mild compression or serious hardcore pumping action equally. Rough Rider is not exactly a transparent compressor – it adds a bit of vintage style coloring to the sound. Great plugin.

24. Voxengo MSED

Admittedly, Voxengo MSED is not a very sexy plugin. But it is an extremely useful tool to have in your arsenal. It is a mid/side signal encoder/decoder. The most obvious use for it is for widening or narrowing the stereo image by adjusting the volumes of the mid/side channels.

You can also use it to swap stereo channels or swap the polarity of a signal.

23. LePou HyBrit

I definitely wanted to mention one of the excellent LePou guitar amp simulation plugins. After playing around with all 5 of them (there are a few more Windows exclusive ones as well), the HyBrit stood out for me. But it really is a case of what kind of sound you are going for – they are all nice.

HyBrit is a simulation of a classic Marshall amp and it sounds great. LePou’s plugins offer a more traditional approach on guitar amps plugins as opposed to something like Native Instruments Guitar Rig for example.

If you like HyBrit, make sure to check their other plugins as well!

Platform: Mac & PC, 32 bit and 64 bit.Download here (download the “Amp sims pack” for latest version of all their plugins)

22. Voxengo Stereo Touch

This little plugin is great for turning monophonic material into spacious stereo. It uses a classic M/S technique to achieve it. I see Dave Pensado rocking similar techniques in his videos all the time. Stereo Touch is a basic, but very very useful tool that can really make a big difference.

21. TAL NoiseMaker

The NoiseMaker is a very versataile, phat sounding and traditional analogue-modeling synth. It’s fun and easy to tweak but also comes with whopping 256 presets. This synth can do some serious bass – great for layering under reese or stab sounds for example. Sound quality wise it easily beats many commercial synths out there. I especially like how the pulse wave oscillator sounds.

20. Camel Audio CamelCrusher

CamelCrusher is a simplified version of Camel Audio’s brilliant CamelPhat distortion plugin. Don’t let that fool you though – it is a great sounding plugin. It has two distortion types – tube and mech. They both have a unique distinctive sound. The plugin also features a low-pass filter with resonance control, as well as a simple compressor.

I’ve found CamelCrusher to be at it’s best when used subtly in a “parallel distortion” type of setting. The included mix knob makes that very easy. A great way to beef up your sounds.

18. Applied Acoustic Systems Swatches

Swatches is a collection of sounds played via the free AAS Player plugin (included in the download). AAS are a pioneer of physical modeling software instruments and this can really be heard in these sounds. If you ignore the usual synth arpeggios (which are nice in their own right though), you will find some really interesting and unique sounds here.

There is no control over the sounds, which I kind of like though! There’s plenty to play around with – Swatches currently includes 104 presets with new ones being added every once in a while. My favorites include the cinematheque sounds. Deep!

hey.. thanks man.. I am also looking for some of the free plugins offered by the great console/plugin suppliers. For example we have free plugins from SLL. if you know about some of the well known supplier giving out free plugins please share…
looking ahead to read the part II.

I tried both the HyBrit amp and the Voxengo Tube Amp, and both were rubbish. The HyBrit could not get a smooth, overdriven sound like a real Marshall. and the Voxengo just sounded like a lame distortion effect, nothing particular musically pleasant at all. I even tried raising the signal level into the HyBrit, but it still sounded poor.

Well ignorance is bliss. You have to be one of 2 people I know that thinks a Lepou plugin sucks. ANY LePou plugin.

The other person doesn’t even know how to properly use a DAW. There ya go. A classic case of PEBKAC. Although I highly doubt it, but, you ARE using a cab sim with decent impulses when you try this stuff out I would hope at the least.

I haven’t used Logic X myself so definitely not making any claims of that sort.

The point of this article is to list the best FREE VST/AU plugins that I have come around. There are tons of great paid plugins around of course. Logic X has great plugins I’m sure, but they don’t classify as free plugins.

Best way to find out which one is better is to try and see for yourself.